Why Mesh Base Layers Are Warmer Than Merino Wool

I recently found out that mesh base layers are supposedly better than Marino wool or synthetic base layers now that's what I call a bolt claim because it goes directly against common Outdoors knowledge if it's true it could be big and that's why I ordered one for myself in this video I'll do a test to see if they're really that much better than traditional base layers or are they maybe a bit overhyped The Fishnet is the first layer you're we in your stripper shirt enter The Fishnet base layer mesh Bas layers were popular roughly half a century ago today they're still popular pretty much only in Scandinavian countries when shopping for mesh Bas layers I definitely could see this for myself because the only legit brand that I could find that still makes them were called ber which is a Norwegian brand also this video isn't sponsored by them and I purchased it with my own money the key idea behind a mesh Bas layer is that you're trapping a lot of air in between the mesh panels when you're active the sweat is able to escape to the outer layers without drenching the fabric sitting on your skin unfortunately this doesn't happen with synthetic or Marino wool base layers because the sweat builds up within the fabric and then it sits right on your skin so when you stop moving you become cold much quicker because the wet fabric is touching your skin when you aren't active for example when you're taking a break or if you're sitting at your campsite then there's a lot of Trapped air in between the mesh panels and if you didn't know most types of insulation are based on trapped air for example Dawn insulation is so good because the feathers can Loft up and keep a lot of Trapped air in between them in traditional base layers there isn't a lot of air trapped inside the fabric because of the tight weave and the third and last benefit of mesh base layers is that if they do get wet they dry much quicker because of all the gaps in the fabric I'll be comparing my mesh base layer with a synthetic base layer and a Marino wool t-shirt because I don't own a Marino wool base layer but the t-shirt is pretty similar so I should get very similar results the first thing that I want to test is to see how sweaty I become while I'm being active so for this test I'll be climbing up that hill three times wearing each one of these base layers underneath a thin sun hoodie it's 226 M of elevation gain spread out over 1 kilometers and I'll be wearing a 10 kilogram backpack I usually get pretty sweaty when hiking up that hill so I think this will be the perfect test and with the second test I want to compare how warm I am with each one of them while I'm not being active so after I climb up the hill with each one of these base layers I'll take off the sun hoodie put on a fleece sit down start a timer and wait until I become cold the one that lasts the longest theoretically should be the warmest base layer all right so I'm starting with the synthetic base layer which I'm wearing underneath the thin sun hoodie it's currently 5° C outside yeah let's just get this over with I'm about halfway up and I can definitely feel that I'm starting to sweat a bit I am trying to keep up a good Pace going pretty fast because this time I actually want to develop some sweat I can definitely feel my synthetic base layer soaking up all the sweat yeah I can feel everywhere that the fabric is wet and is touching my skin and it isn't really such a bad feeling as long as I'm walking but I know that as soon as I'm going to stop I'm going to get cold which is not good I just started the timer and now let's check how sweaty I am oh yeah I'm definitely very sweaty in the armpits the back is also very sweaty putting on the fleece and then I'm going to sit over here and wait until I become cold 10 minutes 40 seconds I am starting to feel a bit chilly and at this point I would usually put on my down jacket 21 minutes and 40 seconds in I am starting to feel the first shivering but not a lot I'm definitely not cold yet but I'm starting to feel cold 27 minutes and 43 seconds have passed and I think this is where I draw the line because the Shivering is starting to become more frequent and I would say that I'm definitely cold now my hands have changed the color from red to White and I'm starting to feel shivering through my spine so I'm putting on another layer going down and testing the second base layer I'm back at the trail head and I'm eating a bit of food drinking some water so that before I start the next test I'm at roughly the same level of energy hydration and warmth now I'm starting the second test which is testing the Marino wool base layer as I said earlier take this with a grain of salt because this actually isn't a base layer it's a Marino wool t-shirt but I think the results should be similar and I've also changed into a fresh and dry San hudi on top again I'm at the top and I've also started that timer I wonder how many times I say sweat in this video probably way too much but yeah I'm pretty sweaty oh yeah there's definitely some sweat on the back putting on the fleece again and I'm back to sitting and waiting 13 minutes in and I'm starting to feel the first Shivers 19 minutes in and I'm definitely starting to feel cold but I think I'm not quite at the point where I turned back the previous time so let's wait a bit more 22 minutes and 30 seconds in And I'm Calling it Quits it is a bit worse result than previously but I think you could account count this to the fact that I'm wearing a Marino wool t-shirt instead of a bass layer I think if I would be wearing a minino wool base layer I would probably have lasted longer than the synthetic one anyway on to the next one which is the mesh base layer I've now eaten a bit rested rehydrated and put on the third and final mesh base layer underneath a completely dry and fresh Sun hoodie the sun isn't setting just yet but it has hidden behind some of the bigger mountains so the temperature has started to drop a bit right now it's 3° instead of five which we started with hopefully that doesn't influence the results too much so I'm just going to start hiking right now before the temperature drops down even further all right so I made it to the top for the third and final time I started the timer and this was definitely the hardest of the three times because it was the last one I think I sweated the most maybe you can see yeah I can probably tell that I'm pretty sweaty right now yeah so let's change and wait all right the armpits they feel pretty sweaty the back as well the back definitely feels pretty wet but let's put on the fleece and wait and see what happens I can definitely feel that it is colder compared to the first time when I was here I would say maybe 3 or 4° colder so if we reach 27 minutes which was the result with the first synthetic base layer then I would say that this would be a win for the mesh base layer but we'll see 10 minutes so far I'm almost 21 minutes in and I'm only now starting to feel the first Shivers so I can definitely feel that the mesh base layer is working much better compared to the other two ones if I'd have to describe how I'm feeling right now I would say that there's pretty much not a lot of cold coming in where the base layer is but obviously I am getting cold in my hands and my head because I'm not wearing any gloves and a hat 26 minutes so far and I am starting to feel a bit cold but I'm definitely not at the point where I was turning back previously and keep in mind that the temperature now is Maybe 3 or 4° lower so the mesh layer is actually doing a really good job right now while doing this I keep checking how's my back if it's still wet or not and after 27 and 1 half minutes which is more than the first synthetic base layer it's pretty much dry it has dried out within these 27 minutes whereas with the synthetic and the Marino based layers it was still wet after all this time I'm calling it quits at 31 minutes and 9 seconds which is the longest time and also the temperature right now is the lowest compared to the first two tests I'm only now starting to feel some cold coming in through the top where the mesh Bas layer is but before we continue with the rest of the video I wanted to talk about my own company called Trail goals together with my wife we make minimalistic posters of various through hiking trails if you've completed a through hikee or you have a friend who has finished one then I think this poster will be a perfect gift to remember your adventure so far we've covered over 100 different through hiking and regular hiking trails you can get yours at Trail goals.com but now let's get back to the video one thing that I didn't explain at the beginning of this video is that I've actually been testing this mesh base layer for about 1 month now instead of just this one day and during this time I already had noticed that it definitely is warmer compared to my normal base layers my house isn't heated very well and if I put it on underneath I'm pretty much warm all day on the last hike that I did which was 1,000 M of elevation gain in a hot and sunny day I also noticed that even though I was sweating a lot the mesh Bas layer didn't actually feel that wet now when I was touching with my hand obviously it did feel very wet but when you're wearing it it just feels different because there's a lot of gaps in between the mesh panels if you understand the science behind mesh base layers and how they work it actually makes a lot of sense why they work much better compared to normal BAS layers which are with a tight weave so why isn't this common knowledge in the hiking World why did I hear about it for the first time only two months ago even though I would consider myself a pretty experienced hiker I would personally say that it probably has to do a lot with marketing because if you're a brand you want to be innovating with new materials that would push you ahead of your competitors and in this case that would be Marino wool but in reality as you saw in this video I think we should be more focused on the weave of the base layer itself instead of the material anyway thank you for watching this video and I hope to see you in one of my next ones bye

Channel: Oscar Hikes

Views: 575,371

Keywords: mesh base layer, mesh shirt, mesh layer, fishnet base layer, fishnet thermal layer, mesh thermal underwear, mesh long johns, brynje, hiking base layers, hiking layering, outdoors base layers, outdoors layering, best base layer, best thermal layer

Id: jwtpDhS9gWE

Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 18 2024